by Kelly Oram
Simone seemed startled by my confession. Or maybe it was the obvious fury I got at the mere mention of my dad that surprised her. “It’s such a shame that your father has fallen so far from your good graces, Russ. I don’t know what’s come between you, but I assure you that you can trust me. I want to help you.”
“Bull. All you want is my power.” Just call me Captain Bitter Pants.
Simone shook her head. “That’s not true. I loved your mother very much. I promised her I would watch after you, and I intend to keep that promise.”
“My dad loved my mom, too, and it didn’t stop him from selling her only son’s soul to the devil,” I spat suddenly. “My father is a selfish, power-hungry bastard, and you are exactly like him.”
“Russ,” Leslie scolded again, but the admonishment was much gentler this time.
I hadn’t meant to spill the beans about the devil owning my soul, but I’d completely lost my temper at the mention of my mother. Everyone in the room was shocked by my outburst, Simone most of all.
“Sold your soul…and you can use…”
Understanding crept into her eyes. Her face went white and she actually took a step back, trying to put some distance between us. It was the first time I’ve ever seen her look afraid. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the first time she ever was afraid. “No,” she whispered. “Even Alexander would never do such a thing,”
Simone had figured it out. She knew what I was. I just gave her a look—yes, he would. He did.
“Only a truly devastating sacrifice could…” Her voice trailed off as she drifted into thought. She stared at me a moment more and then gasped. “Kate!”
I looked away, but not before I noticed that she’d shed a few tears. Her sorrow surprised me. I mean, the woman didn’t exactly wait all that long after my mom’s death to start sleeping with my father, so I’d assumed she’d been lying about loving my mom.
“I would have killed him if I’d known.” She wiped away her tears, but her voice still shook. “I’m so sorry, Russ. I’m sorry for what Alexander has done, and I’m sorry for what I must now do.”
Simone’s attack was instant, brutal, and so unexpected that only Dani was fast enough to react, and she barely had time to throw a shield around me. Still, most of Simone’s spell hit me before Dani could stop her. My chest caved in, completely crushed from the lethal magic.
She’d collapsed both my lungs, and my heartbeat was slowing. I was dying. Again. I heard shouts, but they sounded so far away compared to the roaring in my ears as the life bled from my body. All I knew for certain was that Simone was now fighting Dani and Leslie, trying to keep Dani from helping me.
“Mom! What are you doing? You’re killing him!”
I didn’t have time to be surprised that Clara was defending me before Simone shouted, “He is the Scion! He will destroy us all! He cannot be allowed to live! He is evil—an abomination!”
Okay, I was almost dead, but that just pissed me off. My darkness reached out to me, and as much as I never wanted to tap into it ever again, this was one instance where I didn’t have a choice. Dani and Leslie had contained Simone, and Clara had her hands on my chest trying to heal me, but my wounds were too great. If I didn’t do something, I was a goner.
I was not going to go out like a freaking sucker from some crappy cheap shot thrown at me by Simone. That evil witch was not going to be the death of me. Not now, not ever. I grabbed hold of my connection to Beelzebub and used my demon magic to repair the damage to my crushed sternum. My body healed itself instantly on my command and I got out of bed, making everyone gasp and step back.
I grinned into Simone’s terrified eyes and sent a mental push so strong that she went flying backward, as if I’d blasted her with a lightning bolt. Clara ran to her mom, but Leslie and Dani both stayed by my side, watching me with wide, shocked gazes. I ignored them and focused intently on Simone.
I’d only wanted to use my power to heal myself, but now that I’d unleashed the devil’s darkness, it wanted to do some damage. It fed off my natural hate for Simone as I stalked across the room toward her. “You can’t hurt me,” I said, as I picked her up with my mind and shoved her back against the wall.
Memories flooded my head so forcefully that I knew it was Beelzebub putting them there. Suddenly, I was thinking about every awful thing Simone had ever done to me. How she’d tortured Ethan and me to make Grace talk. She’d tried to kidnap Dani and Gabe, and was willing to kill my father and me to do it. She was manipulative and dangerous, and she needed to be stopped.
Before I knew what was happening, I cast my own deadly spell on her. One that would squeeze the air slowly from her lungs. It was a painful, slow, and cruel way to die, but I wanted her to suffer. Her eyes went wide as she started to choke. Dani and Leslie both rushed to stop me, but with a simple flick of my wrist they were knocked away from me and held down so that they couldn’t move. I never even looked their direction.
“You will not hurt anyone ever again,” I promised Simone as she flailed about in sheer panic. The sight brought me unwanted satisfaction. “I told you that you would regret meeting me.”
This magic was so strong, so powerful, and so completely unstoppable. No one could touch me like this. Nothing could stop me from doing whatever I wanted. There was no one in the world as powerful as me. When I was like this, the world was mine.
I’d fallen into a sort of tunnel vision as I watched Simone struggle for her life, but then Clara clutched onto my arm and broke me from my trance with a desperate plea. “Russ,” she whimpered, “I know she’s horrible, but she’s my mom. Please don’t kill her.”
I looked down into Clara’s watery eyes and was overcome with sympathy in a way I’d never felt in all my life. I hated Clara, but Clara loved her mother, and I could feel that love. I didn’t want that love to be destroyed, and I definitely couldn’t be the one to take it from her.
My eyes found Leslie’s next, and I felt the will of her heart as well. She had faith in me that I would make the right choice. My own heart throbbed at the thought of making her proud. There was no way I could let her down.
Michael’s gift of angelic love had really helped me, just like he said it would. I was overwhelmed with a compassion—a love—that only an angel could be capable of. I pounced on that compassion. Taking hold of Clara’s hand, I focused on her love for her mom and forced myself to drop my hold on Simone.
Once I dropped the spell, I was able to push against the dark thoughts in my head. As I fought Beelzebub’s influence, I gained a little of myself back and suddenly thought of a better use for Beelzebub’s power.
Beelzebub was going to have a massive hissy fit when he realized what I was going to do. Someone should have warned him that it was stupid to give me ultimate power and then expect me to do what I was told with it. Now that I knew for sure I could fight him, he was seriously going to regret making me the Scion.
Sending the Dark Angel a mental suck it, I met Simone’s gaze and shouted, “I bind you, Simone! I place a curse upon your head and bind you from this moment on that your magic may only be used to bring forth the Creator’s will. You will never again cause any ill will through the use of Her power. Lest She approves, your magic shall be untouchable to you.”
I may have used demon magic to administer this curse, but I felt a swelling in my heart and knew that Michael approved of my actions. I knew, through my connection to him, that what I had done was right, and that the Creator was pleased with me.
I’m not sure how I knew to do it, but just before I let go of the demon magic, I sealed my curse with a prayer. “In the name of the angel Michael, whom I humbly serve, and by the will of the Mother of all things, who is my Creator, so shall it be.”
The moment my curse was complete, a blast of power shot out of me that shook the room. Simone lay on the ground in a daze, and Dani and Leslie stumbled to their feet when I released the hold I had on them.
I had no idea what they would do once
they recovered from the shock they were in, but I didn’t get the chance to find out, because suddenly Clara gasped. I barely managed to catch her as she fainted.
Clara was out cold in my arms.
“Clara?” I shook her lightly, and her eyes fluttered open just as Dani and Leslie rushed over.
Leslie went to check on Simone while Dani came over to me, looking at the wilted heap of a girl in my arms. “What’d you do to her?”
“I…” My voice trailed off. I had no idea what happened to her.
“I’m okay,” Clara said. Her voice was weak and she could barely lift her head from where it rested against my shoulder.
I laid her down on the bed I’d just been sleeping in. “That curse shouldn’t have affected anyone but Simone. If I hurt you somehow, I’m sorry.”
Clara’s eyes flew wide open, and she gaped at me in shock. “Did you just apologize? To me?”
I opened my mouth to argue, but the impulse to say something rude was gone, and I realized that she was right. I had apologized to her. Crazier than that, I’d been concerned about her.
We realized at the same time that I was standing beside her, holding her hand like some kind of worried boyfriend as she lay there. I ripped myself away from her as if she’d burned me, but it wasn’t because I hated her. It was because I didn’t hate her. Somehow, suddenly, that fierce loathing I’d always felt for her was gone and it had me freaked. “What’s going on?”
Clara flushed and cast her eyes away from me, as if she were feeling shy. “I don’t know. Whatever you did to my mother, it did something to me, too. It wasn’t bad, though.” She forced her gaze back to me. “It felt good. I feel different now—lighter. Happier. Whatever you did, Russ, it changed me.”
“No. I didn’t do anything to you. I know I didn’t.”
Clara shook her head. “Something’s different,” she insisted. “Can’t you feel it?”
I started to say no again, but then I did feel it. She was different.
Beside me, Dani frowned. “I think the blood feud is gone. I don’t normally feel it unless it’s a very powerful witch or warlock, but I can usually tell there’s supposed to be one and I feel nothing now.”
“Her aura has changed, too,” Leslie said, now standing next to Dani. “Look.”
I looked closer and tried to pay attention to her aura. “I’m not a pro at reading auras yet, but yours is throwing me off the same way Duncan’s does. Are you an anomaly?”
“I—no. I don’t think so.”
“No. It’s not that,” Leslie said. Her voice was distant, as if she were deep in thought. “It’s something else, something…different.”
Gabe took note of the conversation then, and pushed forward to work his Super Seer Aura-Reading Mojo. He did his squinty-eye thing, and after a moment choked on a gasp. It was quite comical how quickly his slitted eyes popped wide open. “Why…you are…”
Mr. Eloquent couldn’t spit it out.
“Gabriel, what is it?” Dani asked. He only shook his head in disbelief.
Leslie squinted so hard at the space around Clara that her eyes were almost shut. “It’s so strange. If it weren’t impossible, I’d say you had two distinct auras.”
“No!” Simone suddenly shouted. She shoved her way to Clara’s side, knocking Gabe, Leslie, and me out of the way. She tried twice to place a spell on Clara, and when her magic wouldn’t work, she whirled on me with a crazed scream. “I’ll kill you for this!”
Simone threw a spell at me with so much anger that I have no doubt it would have been another lethal one. However, with her magic bound the way it was, her chant was nothing more than harmless words. I smirked at her. “I guess the Creator doesn’t want me dead.”
“You are the Scion! The devil’s own child!”
“Maybe.” I shrugged coolly just to piss her off even more. “But I’m also blessed by the angels. Michael gifted me with his love in order to help me fight my connection to Beelzebub.”
Simone gasped while Leslie dropped her arm around me, beaming at Simone as only a proud mother could. Simone’s eyes bounced back and forth between Leslie and me like a couple of ping-pong balls, and when they finally settled on me, I smiled. Smugly. “I’ve chosen my allegiance, and it is not to the Dark Angel.” I pulled the crest from beneath my shirt so that Simone could see it. “Michael has faith that I’ll be able to fight my destiny. He’s taken me as one of his own. The Powers of Heaven have given me their support.”
This information proved too much for Simone to handle. Her face turned so red it was almost purple. “You are a liar!” she screamed at me. “This cannot be the will of the Creator! She would never allow you to remove the curse from my daughter!”
I tried not to get angry, but it was hard. Simone is beyond annoying. “I didn’t remove anything. I placed a curse. On you. It shouldn’t have had anything to do with Clara. Unless…”
Leslie put the pieces together at the same time I did. “Unless Clara was wearing a curse from her that went against the Creator’s will. Maybe any ill-mannered curses Simone has ever placed broke when you bound her.”
“That would make sense,” I admitted.
Clara’s shrill screech pulled us out of our brainstorming. “You cursed me? When? Why?”
Simone stood defiantly, glaring at anyone of us who dared look her in the eye.
“What did you do to me?” Clara demanded.
I wondered if the tears in Clara’s eyes were from heartbreak or frustration. Either way, they had no effect on Simone. I knew the look of someone unwilling to share the ugly truth—my father had perfected that look—and Simone was wearing it now. She wasn’t going to tell Clara anything.
I also recognized the look on Clara’s face. Being screwed over and lied to by our parents was something Clara and I had in common. I felt sorry for her, and refused to let Simone get away without explaining herself. I grabbed Simone and held one of my nifty new seraph blades firmly to her throat. “Answer her question.”
Clara was surprised that I’d come to her defense, but there was also relief in her gaze. Simone sucked in a breath. If she tried to attack me with a spell, it didn’t work. I felt no magic come from her. “I did what I had to do to protect her.” Her voice softened as she pleaded with Clara. “I did it because I love you.”
Not satisfied in the least, I pressed the tip of my knife just deep enough to draw blood. “That is not an answer. Give her the truth she’s looking for, or I will send you to your judgment.”
Simone looked toward Leslie, the only other parent in the room, and found no support in her angry stare. Realizing that she was beaten, her body sagged in defeat. “You’re not an anomaly, Clara. You have no natural feud with warlocks because you share their blood. You possess their magic. I used a faerie glamour to alter the appearance of your aura in order to hide the truth of your father from the world.”
Clara gasped. “Are you saying my father was a warlock?”
Eyebrows hit the ceiling all over the place. I hadn’t thought of the possibility—though, honestly, it shouldn’t have been such a surprise. Simone would do anything for power, and children born of both witch and warlock are supposed to be insanely strong. They’re also supposed to be a myth, but if anyone could accomplish such a task, it’d be Simone. I mean, it’s no secret that the slut managed to get my father into bed on more than one occasion.
Something clicked in my brain. Something crazy. Insane. Impossible. “No freaking way!”
I backed away from Simone as if she were a highly contagious plague. When everyone looked at me like I’d lost my mind, I forced myself to say what I was thinking. “You and my dad…”
Clara’s gaze locked with mine, and her eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. “No! No, Mom! Tell me Alexander Devereaux is not my father!”
Dani clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp, while Leslie and Gabe both made odd noises, choking on their shock. I could only stare at Clara and wait for Simone to tell me that I had a sister.<
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Simone’s answering sigh was filled with so much longing that I almost puked. “Unfortunately, Alexander was always devastatingly faithful to his wife. He is not your father, darling, as much as I wish he could have been.”
I heard Clara thank the Creator, but I felt a well of disappointment so deep that it was startling. From the very second I thought Clara could be my sister, I’d bubbled over with an uncontrollable protectiveness and loyalty that outshined anything I’d ever felt. I considered Ethan my brother, but that paled in comparison to what hit me when I thought I had a real flesh and blood sister. It had been primal and possessive. Instantly, I’d wanted to pull Clara to my side, get her the hell away from her crazy mother, and take her somewhere we would both be able to start completely over together.
The emotions hit so fiercely and consumed me so completely, that even now, knowing she wasn’t really mine, and knowing it was just my angelic heart going haywire, I couldn’t shake the desire I’d felt for that connection. I was overwhelmed with loneliness at the loss. It was insane.
The blood feud was gone between Clara and me now, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it weren’t. I couldn’t look at her the same as I had before. I couldn’t even remember why I’d hated her. The whole situation was messing with my mind so much it was making me lightheaded.
“Who is my father, if it’s not Alexander Devereaux?” Clara demanded, pulling me from my overpowering emotions.
A memory from a long-ago conversation surfaced, and suddenly I knew. “It was the Supreme High Councilor.”
This time, it was Gabe that gasped. He stumbled back and had to sit down. I understood how he felt. He’d been raised by the Supreme High Councilor and loved him as a father. Now it was Gabe’s turn to feel like he’d just found a sister. I was surprisingly jealous of the dork.